Abstract: Searchers of PubMed, as with other bibliographic databases, are used to seeing their results primarily as an ordered list. While lists work well for accessing the first few dozen results of a search, they don’t do much to provide context. A list can’t convey meaningful information about those results that aren’t immediately displayed, nor does it describe the relationships between one part of a complex search and another. This lack of context is especially challenging when navigating large sets of results, as users rarely choose the most efficient search strategy the first time out. Instead they iterate through changes, often informed by little more than the difference in hits at each step.

In this webinar we’ll use visualization methods to explore the aggregate qualities of PubMed results. Techniques such as Venn diagrams and line charts can yield important insights into a search by giving us an overview of our results at a glance. We’ll also see how using these techniques in an interactive way can help guide the process of refining a search strategy.

Presenter Bio: Edwin Sperr, M.L.I.S. currently serves as the Clinical Information Librarian at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership. Since developing the interactive tool PubVenn in 2015, Ed has explored the use of data visualization techniques in several different contexts. One can find out more about his work at https://esperr.github.io/

Register: Pre-registration for this free webinar is encouraged, but not required. Visit our registration page to sign up!